Sunday, September 09, 2007

Maybe in a Year...

The thought occurs to me that in a year or so this might be a really great blog -- provided I can manage to learn some things between now and then about blogging.

So, to help me learn, I'm asking for your constructive criticisms of my efforts. If it's not too much trouble, would you please take a moment to give me some feedback on how I'm doing, what I'm doing well, and what I need to improve?

I promise to carefully consider any advice you offer. If you do not want to post your critique here on the blog, simply email it to me at sunstone [dot] paul [at] gmail [dot] com

Thanks!

8 comments:

BraveHeart said...

I think a pop-up window with comments would be much better idea, so one can see the post while writing the response.

that's my input.

george.w said...

Don't try to be other blogs, be Eryn & Paul. You're a couple of people we like to visit and your blog is your ontological presence in our lives.

The rest, the mechanics, is not so important.

Anonymous said...

Braveheart: In case you didn't notice it, on the page where you type in comments, there's a "Show original post" link. If you click that, it shows the original post as well as earlier comments, so you can look at them all while typing in your comment.

Eryn & Paul, my two cents:

You're doing good. There's an overall look of 'cleanness' to your blog, and a sense of simplicity that is rare - most blogs look too cluttered.

The frequency of your posts is terrific - you are one of the most prolific bloggers I know.

The content of your posts is almost always universally thought-provoking. Your writing is intelligent, sensitive, and the writing style is also great. I think the ratio of local/regional to international/universal content is very balanced as well.

As far as I can see, if you are happy having a select audience that really participates via comments, as you have now, there's no area of improvement I can suggest.

On the other hand, if you're looking to increase traffic and be more participative in the blogosphere, I think you can increase the number of times you link to other bloggers' posts in your posts.

This helps in two ways: it guides your readers to other interesting blogs (works better than the blogroll, since a link is always within a context). And the readership to drive to other blogs gives them an incentive to link to your posts as well.

Just my thoughts - I'm not saying you need to do any of the above. I'll still keep visiting! :-)

Unknown said...

The only thing I might suggest you change is the frequency of your posts -- everything you write merits close consideration, and for the responsible reader, it's a bit difficult to keep pace with you. I have an uneasy sense of being obliged, due to time constraints, to hastily sort through a handful of gems.

Unknown said...

Oh -- one other thing; this has nothing whatsoever to do with the quality of your blog, but it's a tip to increase your audience, if that's something you're interested in doing.

The more specific your tags are ("labels," as I believe you call them on this site) the more likely you are to come up on search engines. People find my blog in the gosh-darnedest ways, and often stay as readers. I've noticed higher traffic since I started adding detailed tags.

BraveHeart said...

thanks Mahedra. It actually works:)

Webs said...

I agree with DOF. Your blog is great and you shouldn't change any of the content.

I also agree with Mahendra, you should link out to other sites and blogs more. If you want more traffic and get your word out faster.

I recommend switching over to a server you have more control of, like one from GoDaddy, get a domain name (I also recommend getting this from GoDaddy), then install Wordpress and import what you have here. And start using Wordpress to blog. Then you can come back to this site and set a forwarder in the code to forward anyone that comes here to your new site.

Having your own blog software can make a big difference since you can customize essentially anything you want.

As I said before, let me know if you need any help or want more info about doing a switch. I would be happy to help in anyway I can.

Unknown said...

My only thought is to keep doing what you're doing already. I enjoy reading your blog and I can't think of anything that would make it better.